INITIATIVE: Constitution to guarantee the right to housing

Details: Thursday, 18 December 2014 11:22

inicijativa

NGOs Association for Democratic Prosperity - Wall, UNO Libertask, Young Rom and Union of Free Trade Unions (USSCG) will submit the initiative for the introduction of the right to housing in the Constitution of Montenegro. These organizations have also formed the Network for development of social housing.

Although the Constitution does not guarantee a right to housing as a particular social right, it defines Montenegro as the welfare state, hence, the state is considered solely responsible for the constitution of social justice. This means that the right to housing, as one of the most important human rights, should be constituted with respect to the principles of human dignity.

The initiative for the introduction of the right to housing in the Constitution will be sent to members of the Assembly, the President of Montenegro and the Government as a conditionally authorized nominators of amendments to the Constitution.

The initiative proposes to replace the current Article 70 of the Constitution with the new one which shall stipulate that every citizen in Montenegro has the right to housing under standards established by the law. Through a partnership of public, private and non-profit sector, the country shall secure good housing standards to the households which cannot meet this need at the market due to the economic, social or other restrictions. In case this initiative is accepted and the Constitution amended, the prioritization in housing should be determined in accordance with the scope of economic, social or other constraints of households, which must be reasonable.

At a press conference held on the occasion of the presentation of the Initiative, Secretary General of the USSCG, Srđa Keković, said that his organization has repeatedly addressed the Government with a request to turn Montenegrin Fund for Solidarity Housing Development (CFSSI) into a national fund to help dealing with these issues. The USSCG suggest not the construction of apartments that employees will buy at market conditions, but rather to provides the employees or other social categories with the opportunity to rent these apartments according to their spending power.

"CFSSI builds on plots provided by the municipality; given a free land is liberated from the utilities, this should affect decrease of the price of construction for 30 percent. Our findings are that the Fund built these facilities with a certain economic calculation, but that there was a commercial price, as well", said Keković.

He said that the Government's Social Housing Programme for the period from 2014 to 2017 notes that the Government has provided CFSSI with guarantee of five million euros, which the Fund will invest in building housing for employees who will buy the apartments on a market basis.

"Our argument is confirmed by the fact that the project 1000+ implemented by the Government provided offer of about 1160 housing units, of which only 433 were purchased by households. This suggests that citizens do not have the required purchasing power", said Keković.

He added that CFSSI discriminates employees and citizens by saying that housing facilities are only available to members of the Federation of Trade Unions (SSCG).

Director of the Association for Democratic Prosperity - Zid, Igor Milosevic, explained that NGOs ADP - Zid, Libertask, Young Roma and USSCG made a platform and established the Network for the development of social housing to support vulnerable groups, but also as an important instrument in the fight against poverty.

"We must be take care of young people and their perspective. Complete legislation affecting housing policy should be adapted and incorporated into social housing policy", says Milošević.

He said there is no point to direct citizens to the exclusive policy of buying flats. The citizens should be provided with different mechanisms for solving housing issues in accordance with their capabilities, namely the rental policy, where the state should significantly intervene.

Download initative here.